Military Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine: Russia gave a bogus address for Yanukovych
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office gave the Ukrainian prosecutor a bogus residential address for former president Viktor Yanukovych as stated by Ruslan Kravchenko, Prosecutor of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (PGO), while on air with 112 Ukraine TV Channel.
“The Russian Prosecutor’s General Office gave us a bogus residential address for the suspected individual, Yanukovych,” he said.
“After that we sent requests to all the possible residential addresses and whereabouts of Yanukovych, and specifically to the address provided by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office at Rostov-on-Don, we were informed that there are storage facilities there; we sent a repeat request to the Russian PGO for them to provide us with a specific residential address, because the address which they gave us is false,” Kravchenko related.
According to him, the Russian PGO responded to the repeat request by saying that the address in Rostov on Don is correct, but no supporting documents were provided.
Kravchenko also said that two witnesses in the criminal case against the former president reported that he resides not in Rostov-on-Don, but in the Greater Moscow Area.
When asked whether the PGO has specific information on Yanukovych’s whereabouts, Kravchenko responded, “It doesn’t have anything specific”.
As reported, Yanukovych’s defense stated previously that the PGO could not start a trial in absentia until it does an investigation.
In response to the Ukrainian PGO, the Russian PGO announced that it was prepared to organize an interrogation of Yanukovych in Russian territory with Ukrainian investigators present.
At the same time Ruslan Kravchenko, Prosecutor of the Chief PGO of Ukraine, said that Ukrainian law enforcement will not take part in an interrogation of Yanukovych in Russian territory.
Yanukovych’s lawyers threatened employees of the Ukrainian PGO with court action on account of their refusal to interrogate the former president in Russia.
However, on March 11, Serhiy Gorbatyuk, Head of the Special Investigations Department of the PGO of Ukraine announced that the department intends to send a request to the Russian PGO regarding the interrogation of Yanukovych in Russian territory as a suspect of two criminal cases – countering protest action, and creating criminal groups.